Berlin foundry pays $200,000 fine for endangering workers

GREEN BAY (WAOW) - The owner of a now-shuttered foundry in Berlin paid a $200,000 fine for negligently ordering 11 workers to remove asbestos-containing insulation without providing equipment to protect them from the harmful fibers, U.S. Attorney Gregory Haanstad said Friday.

Grede LLC also agreed to provide the workers with more than $340,000 for future monitoring of their lungs for possible diseases, the prosecutor said in a statement.

In a plea bargain in U.S. District Court, Grede was convicted of criminal negligence in the January 2012 incident that involved removing materials from the roof of an inactive industrial oven, Haanstad said. The company did not follow "standard asbestos abatement procedures," he said.

It is well known that asbestos exposure is hazardous to human health and can cause a cancer called mesothelioma, authorities said.